The energetic third baseman who injured his left ribs while preparing for the World Baseball Classic simply has run out of time in his effort to get back to health in time for the Blue Jays season Opener, April 2 against the Cleveland Indians.

Manager John Gibbons made the announcement Monday morning.

Under a best-case scenario, the Jays will backdate his injury to March 22 which means Lawrie would miss the first four games and be eligible to return to the team by April 6. But bet on Lawrie being out longer than that.

In his absence the Jays can go with either Mark DeRosa or Maicer Izturis. The plan is to have Izturis, a switch-hitter, start against right-handers and DeRosa, who bats right, face the lefties.

Upon his return from the WBC, Lawrie has taken a slow, measured response to his injury.

It has only been in the past few days that he has returned to baseball drills such as playing catch, taking ground balls and hitting off the tee.

He has yet to face live pitching or appear in a game — his last spring game was March 2 — and there simply isn’t enough time for the Jays or Lawrie to feel comfortable enough to have him primed for Opening Day.

The last thing both Lawrie and the Jays want is to rush him back and re-injure the ribs and have him miss a significant portion of time.

“He’s going to start on the DL, he’s not going to be ready,” Gibbons said. “It’s kind of getting to that point now and he’s not quite ready to get into a game so he’s going to start on the DL.”

How long Lawrie remains on the DL is up in the air.

“I don’t know,” Gibbons said. “It’s not like he had a big setback or anything. You look at the schedule, a week from tomorrow we’re starting. He had limited at-bats before he went to the WBC and he hasn’t had any since. It’s a precautionary thing and with those injuries, like we’ve said before, if you aggravate them again, sometimes they become long term and we don’t want to risk that.

“Basically, we’re not going to be able to get him into enough games before the season starts to feel comfortable with it.”

Making the decision now instead of in the Thursday or Friday also takes the pressure off of Lawrie to push to hard to make it by Opening Day.

“That’ll help,” Gibbons said. “And you know what kind of individual he is. That’s not what he wanted to hear. But, it’s best for the long run. We want him for at least five-and-a half months anyway.”

Lawrie seems to be OK with the decision.

“I didn’t know what to expect because you don’t know when it’s going to be ready to go,” Lawrie said Monday. “I wish that I could say it’s going to be ready on this day but I can’t go as hard as I want to go out on the field until it feels like my other side and I feel like everything’s good. I can’t do that. If I do that I’m doing myself a disservice as well as my teammates because I don’t know if I go out there if I’m going to bang myself up for another two months. I don’t want to do that.

“I want to make sure that when I go back out there to play, it’s to stay out there. It’s not to go out there and test it and be like, ‘Well, is he going to be OK.’ I just don’t want that hanging over me. I don’t like it in my head, just the thought that it could get worse. I don’t like that. I want to make sure that it’s great before I go out there.”

Lawrie said he isn’t feeling pain in the rib area but it just doesn’t feel the same as his right side and he isn’t going to be playing until it is.

He has been working diligently to try to get back into the lineup but now that the decision is made, he will back off a little bit.

“I’ve got to ease on the brakes here and let it get better,” Lawrie said. “I can only do so much. It’s just going to get better when it wants to and I’ve got to give it the opportunity to.

Blue Jays' Brett Lawrie to miss opening day ... and more

The energetic third baseman who injured his left ribs while preparing for the World Baseball Classic simply has run out of time in his effort to get back to health in time for the Blue Jays season Opener, April 2 against the Cleveland Indians.

Manager John Gibbons made the announcement Monday morning.

Under a best-case scenario, the Jays will backdate his injury to March 22 which means Lawrie would miss the first four games and be eligible to return to the team by April 6. But bet on Lawrie being out longer than that.

In his absence the Jays can go with either Mark DeRosa or Maicer Izturis. The plan is to have Izturis, a switch-hitter, start against right-handers and DeRosa, who bats right, face the lefties.

Upon his return from the WBC, Lawrie has taken a slow, measured response to his injury.